General Music Chat

http://musicians.about.com/od/musicindu ... ythnet.htm

Click on the link above. It's a good read. Even though it's not the most original topic, it does inspire other ways of thinking.

I totally agree. The internet is a great tool if you have the goods. If you easily draw a crowd while busking on a street corner or you regularly fill a club with people who are not in your family it will work for you. If you don't have the goods, no amount of youtube/facebook/twitter/myspace/bandmix/reverbnation/tunecore/CDbaby etc. will save you. In the end, someone has to want to pay to get your music.

Your examples are good ones although don't kid yourself here:
"Steely Dan never played live before becoming a success. All done over the radio. "
They played live a lot on the way to the top of the charts.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steely_Dan

Steely Dan, Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin also had the goods. Extraordinary songwriting, strong musicianship, and a fresh sound that stood out from the crowd and was instantly recognizable. Would they have made it today if they depended solely on Facebook, youtube and twitter, without regular live performances attracting large crowds? It's certainly possible but I doubt it.

Yes, there are other low profile ways of making it in the music business that do not include playing live including: Music directing, film scores, commercial session work on TV & radio jingles, engineering and sound effects. I briefly dabbled in session work in the 80s and though I could have made a living I found the work unsatisfying and I really probably wasn't all that good. If I was in the room and Steve Lukather walked in to record the next session... game over. He could play circles around me.

Music only really happens for me playing live. Several of my friends are still working successfully in these other areas and do enjoy the work. One has recorded the film soundtrack songs for several major motion pictures and does very well. But the guy working in his home studio looking to sell 500K hit songs without going out and playing live... one in a billion.

You can post your material on a multitude of websites, BUT is it making you a PROFIT? PROFIT is good if that's your goal. Some people don't care whether they make any money at this or not. If that's the case then put your music everywhere and anywhere. Perform free gigs whenever and wherever you can. I'd like to make money at this. I'd like to develop a business strategy to do it. The internet is really a small part of the strategy. If you plan or hope to perform live shows for big bucks (hopefully) all the internet presence in the world isn't going to replace practicing your ass off to sound great live. It's all about what you sound like. Is your music salable? Are people going to want to pay money to see you live or buy your songs off the internet? It's all about practice makes better. Everything else is really meaningless unless you SOUND good enough to SELL.

Some really good points made. For me, I want to play live. I want to be a part of some people's history and memories. Music plays the most intimate role when it's up close and personal. People tell stories about shows they went to, and a lot of events have gone down as epic tales. I hear young people saying "I wish I could have been there" all the time. I believe you can make money on the net, but you can't create anything as priceless as a musician playing a show. I would rather get on a really killer bill than get a million comments on my page. I'll take a life changing experience over a good feeling anyday.

Kruliosis

That's exactly right. I remember my best gig (an outdoor show in North VA) like it was yesterday while so many others have sort of all jammed together (no pun intended but I'll take it ) in my memory.

I was thinking recently of a band I saw at Hotlanta years ago called Trickster - they were wired so tight I remember them to this day. But they never made it and neither did I.

I'm sure many of us are good enough - but its about being tough enough, finding the right folks and being lucky enough. Can the internet help? I suppose so but I'll not bet too much on it.

Talbot

Money money money............

One of the biggest problem in the music industry today is that too many people are willing to do all this for nothing. Too many bands, too few places to play, too many venue owners and managers ripping us off AND many of those being ripped off are WILLING to go along with it. Sometimes I think I'd be better off being a Walmart greeter...

One example of this is a young guitarist I have followed for a few years. They have pretty good chops, good looks and an image. All the right stuff is online including Youtube, facebook, myspace, twitter. In the last few years their Youtube vids have gone ballistic logging 9.5 MILLION hits. That's right, Nine Point Five Million! Recording credits... Zero. Very few live performances. How does that happen!

Such extraordinary Youtube penetration is certainly a great achievement for a 21 yr old guitarist but how does it put gas in your car and pay the light bill? Am I missing something?

One the other hand there is FunTwo who as a young kid garnered 86 MILLION youtube hits and ended up playing on stage with Joe Satriani.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjA5faZF1A8

Talbot

You can be a live band and make money too. Put up a clip of last weeks live gig and let the newcomers read the comments on how much everyone enjoyed the show who went.

Of course every band should get a decent recording done and sell it. It builds anticipation for the "real" thing(live performance). I think it's best to try to look for ways to avoid having the option of selling downloads at first. If people want your music bad enough, they will break down and buy it. Instead of selling single songs, fans are "trained" into getting into the whole album, and hopefully read the insert. If more bands went this route, then tangible music would be preferred over fast food music. I like my dishes cooked over microwavable meals, don't you? I think you get where I'm coming from. I'm sure you could sell more downloads later once you do decide to make them available. I mean, you can't just get away with selling CD's forever, cause unfortunately someone is going to put it up for torrent. Would sure be nice if that wasn't a risk, but it is. Damn, I hate the sound of MP3.